Another thing I observed about these stories is that most of them don't go very far inside a character, don't reveal very much of the character. I don't mean that they don't enter the character's mind, but they simply don't show that he has a personality. Again this goes back partly to speech. These characters have no distinctive speech to reveal themselves with; and sometimes they have no really distinctive features. I could not remember one image or one metaphor from the seven s
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📖 Notes & analysis
This tip works because personality lives in specifics, not summaries. Telling us a character is nervous is forgettable; showing her tap a rhythm on her coffee cup every time she lies is not. Distinctive speech, gestures, and the odd private metaphor act like a signature — they let readers recognize someone even with the name blacked out, which is what makes fictional people feel inhabited rather than assembled.
Try this: give a character one verbal tic tied to their history, like a former teacher who still says "for the record" before opinions. That single habit implies a whole backstory.
The caution is not to overdo it into caricature. If every character gets a quirky catchphrase, the page turns into a costume party. Save the vivid detail for the moments that matter, and let ordinary lines stay ordinary.
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